


Nothing But The Blues

by ragnarok89



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Band Fic, Bands, Conflict of Interests, Developing Friendships, Gen, High School, Hopeful Ending, Humor, Inspired by Music, Jazz - Freeform, Late Night Conversations, Musicians, Names, Near Future, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Resolution, School Reunion, Short One Shot, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24674965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragnarok89/pseuds/ragnarok89
Summary: "We still need to come up with a name for ourselves, you know,"
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Nothing But The Blues

The lounge was filling up quickly, just at the strike of 10 at night. Eli was amazed by the sheer audacity of jazz's following, after all this time. He loved jazz, all his life actually, but since it wasn't as popular as the mainstream songs that play on the radio almost religiously, he kept that love to himself today. He however still had friends who love jazz, just not as much as he did. He found the lounge to be his sanctuary, his haven for the music he grew up with, ever since his dad played the first jazz record he had owned. That love had never ceased.

The crowds started filing in one by one, group by group, and soon the seats were full, and the lights had dimmed, with people talking amongst themselves before the music started playing. The band was grouped together on the stage, and before they knew it, the formerly silenced room was ablaze with noise that built notes upon notes of music, quiet defeated and music full and alive.

Eli still remembered when he was once tried to form a band such the one playing a familiar tune right in front of him, where silence wasn't golden, and noise was appreciated. He wasn't quite sure why he was the only one who wanted to try and make a name for himself; everyone wants to be immortal in name, so he wondered why so few would take that chance.

"We still need to come up with a name for ourselves, you know," Eli had piped up out of the blue that one evening.

His friend Jeffrey glared up at the other boy, wondering why he was so obsessed with naming every single thing that crossed his path. His pencil had a name, his instruments had names – hell, he wouldn't have been surprised if every one of his shoes and socks had a name, too. He wished, however, that Eli could decide on a name by himself so he and Martha could get on with what they were supposed to be doing, i.e. working on their English essays.

"A name for ourselves?" Martha asked him, perplexed. "What do you mean by that?"

Jeffrey groaned and threw down his pen, knitting his brows together. Eli had caught Martha's attention now, which meant that there was no way he would be able to concentrate now.

"I mean we need a name for ourselves if we're going to start a jazz band," Eli replied, as though it was completely obvious as to what he was talking about. He tended to do that: talk absolute nonsense and assume that everyone understood him.

"In what sense?" Martha asked, still not quite comprehending what Eli meant.

"Well, many bands out there have names that stand out - why not us? Names like....The Bronzes, or..uh... The Blues Trio?" Eli asked, thinking of names at the top of his head.

Martha sighed, shook her head, and went back to her schoolwork.

Jeffrey shot Eli a scathing look. "We are not going to name our 'band' anything, not with those ridiculous names."

"Why not?" The boy asked, confused and a bit curious to find out.

The other boy sighed. "Because, Eli, I don't want people to assume that a simple high school band would make it big in that huge of an industry, let alone in jazz."

"Yes we would."

"Oh, really? How, dare I ask?"

"We would write songs and practice every day - maybe even an agent can book us some gigs and we three would make it big."

The other boy rolled his eyes. "Hmm, if I were to humor you for a bit, what name would you pick?"

Eli thought for a moment, on and off, and the name arrived to him as quick as a flash to the eyes.

"Nothing But The Blues."

Martha looked up from her studies and looked both puzzled but curious, a small smile making its known on her face. "That name sounds both inspiring and depressing."

"That does make it sound real - I like it." Jeffrey nodded, a smile marking his features at last.

Eli smiled too.

*

The music that started out as lively then slowed down into the slow, soothing rhythm that relaxed the atmosphere that was tinged with the excitement that the previous band had played.

Eli looked at his watch, and saw that it was 10:30, and they still weren't there yet.

"Eli?"

Hearing his name, he looked up and saw two familiar faces across from his seat, those two being Jeffrey and Martha, the two had shared his love for jazz and still smiling.

"It has been a while."

"It sure has."

"So....ready to play?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

And soon, the three of them would be called _Nothing But The Blues_ , and nothing would ever change that.

**Author's Note:**

> Another short story I wrote for a class in university <3
> 
> Comments and thoughts are appreciated~!!


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